Ohio Proposes New Animal Cruelty Laws for Dog Breeders

Kennel owners in Ohio who violate certain animal cruelty provisions would face felony charges under a new bill proposed by state lawmakers. A public hearing on the measure is set for Wednesday, April 6, 2011.




House Bill 108 prohibits an owner of dog kennel from:



• Torturing, tormenting, needlessly mutilating or maiming, cruelly beating, poisoning, needlessly killing, or committing an act of cruelty against the companion animal; and

• Depriving the companion animal of necessary sustenance, confining the companion animal without supplying it during the confinement with sufficient quantities of good, wholesome food and water, or impounding or confining the companion animal without affording it, during the impoundment or confinement, with access to shelter from heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, or excessive direct sunlight, if it can reasonably be expected that the companion animal would become sick or suffer in any other way as a result of or due to the deprivation, confinement, or impoundment or confinement in any of those specified manners.



Violators would face felony charges of the fifth degree.



In an industry alert, the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council argued that animal cruelty laws “should encompass all persons, whether pet owners or otherwise, and should not target a specific group for prosecution.”